Specifically my current Windows 7 64-bit rig powered by a Wolfdale E8500 3.16GHz processor, Radeon HD 3850, and 3.00GB RAM (for a Windows Experience Index of 5. is no longer cutting it when playing games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and BioShock Infinite with what I consider to be high enough settings / frame rates. My goal is to build a new rig reusing nothing from my current rig, but my monitor (a Dell U2410 1920x1200) that will play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and BioShock Infinite at the highest settings. I would also like to be able to play perhaps 75% of the most graphically demanding games coming in the next 1 to 3 years at quite high settings and perhaps 75% of the most graphically demanding games coming in the next 4 to 5 years at medium settings all with what one would consider to be acceptable frame rates at that time. I do not plan to upgrade the rig during this time period and I know it's difficult to predict the state of hardware and software in 3 to 5 years, but I'm trying!

I've put together the following parts list based on my goal of 3 to 5 years of gaming service and with the understanding that I will not be doing any video encoding, photo editing, or other professional-type of stuff on this machine. Nor will I be storing much on it (no videos, photos, or music). Additionally, I will be using a wired Ethernet connection and not WiFi or Bluetooth.

The total price of my proposed parts is right in the middle of my envisioned budget of $1,250 to $1,750. Do you see anything could really be improved in my future-proofing effort?

actually you could stay with a 1155 setup and save some money and still have a rig worthy of that time frame. but what you have looks fun too. I prefer to have a smaller ssd for the OS and a HDD for storage.

Thanks so much saipan, I really appreciate your advice! If I am not going to fill up more than 2/3rds of the 256GB SSD (as I won't be storing many games, videos, pictures, or music files) is there any other advantage than cost to having a smaller 128GB SSD and a separate HDD? Thanks again!

The only concern I have with Saipan's suggestion is that a Ivy Bridge processor with a Z77 board is about the same in cost as a Haswell processor with a Z78 board. The only cost saving you'll get is that Haswell doesn't have anything lower than a Core i5 at the moment (as far as I know)... which is what you don't want. So stick with your processor/motherboard choice, although I would bump the processor down to a Core i5-4670K. The only difference from the i7 is HyperThreading which games don't even use. Also bump the power supply down to 600W unless you plan on doing two video cards in the near term (i.e., within one year)

As for going with a smaller SSD, it just gives you more money to play with, so see what else you can snag.

LatiosXT, I really appreciate your help and advice about the potential switch from the i7-4770K to the i5-4670K! My local brick and mortar has crazy good pricing on the i7-4770k / Asus Z87 Sabertooth combo that it's actually less expensive than the many i5-4670K combos... I guess they do it to get people in the store?

Do you (or anyone else) see any problems with the Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium instead of Windows 7 64-bit Professional choice in 3 to 5 years? I can't imagine any problems looking at the feature set of Home Premium.

Any thoughts about the 2 sticks of 8GB 1600MHz 10-10-10-27 1.5V CL10 RAM (for a total of 16GB)? I just can't yet see the benefit of 4 sticks of 8GB RAM or 4 sticks of 4GB RAM for my purposes... I don't expect to overclock my RAM and don't think I will gain much with better timings...

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